Gods Complicate Everything
by Sarah1281
Summary: Post-Mirror Image Sam dutifully continues leaping around, never expecting to see Al again when the pair are reunited just in time for one of Sam's strangest assignments yet. As Odin, moments before Loki's fall into the abyss, Sam must find a way to deal with these family issues and, with luck, prevent the start of the path that leads to Ragnarok.
1. Chapter 1

Gods Complicate Everything

Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Quantum Leap.

Sam was barely able to process the fact that he was standing, holding onto two men and stopping them from falling into the blackness of space before the weight hit him and he staggered, desperately trying not to let them go.

The blonde one looked anxious but not particularly worried about being dropped which made for one of them. The one with dark hair looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Even 'controlling' the leaps, he still managed to end up in the worst possible moments, didn't he?

He was about to tell them that he was going to start pulling them up when the dark-haired one spoke.

"I could have done it, Father! I could have done it! For you! For all of us!" he cried out, desperately.

Sam had no idea what was going on. He didn't know who this man was or what his name was but he was apparently the man's father. Since discovering that he was 'controlling' his leaps, he had spent most of them leaping around as himself righting various wrongs but occasionally he still leaped into others and it looked like this was one of _those_ leaps.

That would make him male, then, and at least fifty. He didn't know how the three of them had come to be in this position or what the man was talking about but he knew that none of it really mattered, not until he ensured that they didn't fall off into space or whatever this was.

"I'm sure you could have, son," Sam assured him in his most soothing tone.

The relief on the man's face was palpable. It was as if those words were a lifeline to him.

"Father?" the blonde man asked, uncertainly.

So they were both his sons? Good to know.

"We'll talk about this more when I get you to safety," Sam said firmly.

The blonde man nodded. "Of course."

Straining himself and feeling the adrenaline coursing through him, Sam slowly managed to bring the two back to the side of this…half-destroyed rainbow bridge. Well, alright then. This was probably the strangest place he had ever woken up in.

Once the blonde man was safely on the bridge again, he effortlessly lifted the dark-haired man, his brother, onto the bridge as well.

"Father, are you alright?" the blonde asked, concerned. "Normally pulling me up would not be such a great task."

"I…" Sam began lamely, uncertain of what to say. Apparently the man he had replaced and his blonde son (possibly his dark-haired son as well) either had some kind of super strength or else worked out a whole lot more than he had ever had.

"Ah," the blonde said, in realization. "You have just awoken from the Odinsleep. Of course."

"Of course," Sam agreed, relieved. He glanced around him. This place was just too surreal. He was on a _rainbow bridge_. Presumably it wasn't literally made out of rainbows but it seemed awfully fragile, especially given that there was a large piece broken off. He didn't know how that had happened but he wasn't feeling very safe here. "How about we go back inside and we can talk about what happened here?"

"That's a good idea," the blonde agreed. "Mother will want to know what has happened."

The dark-haired man hadn't said a word. He just sat down where his brother had left him and stared at his hands.

"Are you alright, son?" Sam asked him.

The blonde turned to him and his eyes softened. "Loki…"

Finally! A name!

'Loki' was rather an odd name but then, he supposed it was only fitting for such an odd place. Where was he, anyway? If only Al were still with him.

But no, he hadn't seen his faithful best friend and observer since the time the man had walked away from that otherworldly bar in order to try and get help for him and Sam had taken the opportunity to give Al everything he had always deserved out of life. Really, he should have done it years ago, back when he had first become Jake.

Would Al and Sam ever have met in that new timeline? Was Quantum Leap still a go? Had he created a new version of himself that either leapt around as well or stayed right where he belonged? Did Al even remember their adventures? He had remembered every other change (or so Sam thought but it was hard to keep track with his Swiss Cheese Brain. That was getting better but he still wasn't 100 percent and might never be) but this one was different. This was nearly half his life.

Sam might never know the answer to that and so he tried to push those thoughts out of his head. He had work to do and no idea of where to even begin.

Loki impatiently pushed himself off the floor and ignored his brother's proffered hand. "I'm fine. Let's go."

"You don't _look_ fine," the blonde said dubiously.

"_Thor_," Loki snapped.

"Let him alone until we get back," Sam instructed.

Loki shot him a surprised, grateful look.

Thor took a deep breath. "Very well. But when we return to the palace, I have many questions."

"So do I," Sam said dryly. Palace?

There were two horses waiting a little further down. One of them had eight legs. Was this an alien or some genetic experiment gone terribly wrong? Or right, depending on how you looked at it. He supposed that having eight legs _would_ make a horse go faster.

"I'll fly back," Thor informed them.

Sam wanted to ask how he could possibly do that but from the casual way that Thor had said it, that would probably fall into the realm of 'suspicious things not to ask about because you should know' that he tried to avoid.

And soon enough he got his answer anyway when Thor helped up his giant hammer and just lifted off like he was Superman or something.

Sam stood there gaping for a moment before he realized that he probably wasn't supposed to be in awe of this and turned back to the horses. Which one was he supposed to take?

Fortunately, Loki made the decision easy for him by taking the normal horse, leaving the…unique one to Sam. Not what he would have chosen had he been given the option but sometimes you had to do what you had to do.

* * *

Sam and Loki were apparently very important people if the way that they just left their horses at the doors of the palace and wandered in was any indication. He tried not to make it too obvious that he was counting on Loki to lead the way and he followed him into a room where Thor and a beautiful older blonde woman were waiting anxiously for them.

The woman had her arms wrapped around Thor as if she were worried that he might disappear at any moment.

"It's alright, Mother," Thor promised her. "I'm alright. And I'm not going to be cast out again, am I, Father?"

So this woman was a past partner of his at the very least, possibly a wife. And Thor's mother though he didn't know about Loki's. He wished there was a mirror around, then he could guess whether or not Loki was this woman's child.

"No, I don't think that will be necessary," Sam said finally.

"Of course not," Loki said bitterly.

Thor released his mother and walked over to Loki. "I've learned my lesson, Brother. My time in Midgard has done me good and there is no need for me to return." A dark shadow crossed his face. "If I even _could_ return."

"Oh, Loki, what have you done?" the woman asked, distressed.

"Me?" Loki asked, laying a hand over his heart. "I'm not the one who destroyed the Bifrost."

Was the Bifrost that rainbow bridge? Sam hadn't seen anything else destroyed.

"Only because you wouldn't-" Thor began heatedly.

The woman held up both of her hands. "Boys, _please_!"She walked over to Loki and hugged him as well. He stood stiffly in her arms for a moment before relaxing into his embrace. "I am relieved and gladdened that you are okay as well, Loki. I don't know what I'd do if I lost either one of you. These past few days…Never again, do you hear me?"

"I'll…do what I can," Loki promised reluctantly.

The woman pulled back. "That's all I ask." She glanced Sam's way. "Odin, may a have a word before you deal with our sons?"

Our _sons_. That answered that question at least. And to have two sons openly with him? Odds were good that she was his wife, at least if this culture was anything like his own. There was no real reason to think that it was considering it contained things like rainbow bridges, super-powered men, and eight-legged horses but it was the assumption he'd be working off of for now.

Sam nodded. "Of course."

He followed her into the hallway.

"I don't know what happened," the woman began. "Frost Giants – King Laufey _himself _– somehow found their way to Asgard and burst into your bedroom to murder you when Loki showed up and killed them. Then Thor somehow comes back from Midgard and accuses Loki of sending a destroyer to kill him and their friends. Loki attacks Thor and then off they go!"

Sam didn't know what most of that meant. Frost Giants? Midgard? But there was one thing that he could tell and this woman was waiting expectantly for his reaction.

"That…is a problem," Sam acknowledged.

The woman's eyes were steel. "That's an understatement. And I think I know where it all started."

"You do?" Sam asked, hopefully. It couldn't be that easy, could it? "Where?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It was when you wouldn't tell Loki that he was originally a Frost Giant and he had to find out when they went to Jotunheim and his skin turned blue when one of them touched him! I told you you should have told him from the beginning."

So Loki was adopted and hadn't taken that well? Well, that was within the realm of his understanding, even if the details were unfamiliar.

"I didn't want to hurt him," Sam told her earnestly.

Her gaze softened. "Oh, Odin, I know. I do. I never wanted to hurt him either but now it's too late. He found out in the worst possible way and then, even though it wasn't your fault, you collapsed and entered the Odinsleep before you could reassure him. I don't know what Loki has done but I know that you are going to have to fix this if you don't want our sons trying to kill each other again."

"No, I definitely don't want that," Sam agreed. Was that his mission, sorting Thor and Loki out? It was straightforward, at least, even if he didn't have any of the relevant details and knew next to nothing about the two people involved.

"An entire organ city," a blessedly familiar voice from behind him remarked. "This place is like a Catholic's paradise."

"Al?" Sam breathed, hardly daring to believe it. He didn't turn around.

The woman frowned. "Al?"

"I, uh, I'll go right in there and talk to Thor and Loki but I've got to go to the bathroom first," Sam told her.

The woman nodded. "You have been out for three days. Do hurry, though. We have breakables in the room we left our feuding sons in."

By sheer chance, the first room that Sam tried happened to be a bathroom and he quickly ducked into it. He held his breath and kept an eye on the door, waiting – impossibly – for Al to walk through it.

And walk through it he did.

He was wearing khakis and a red polo shirt and he was the most welcome sight that Sam had ever seen.

"_Al_!"

Al smirked at him. "I," he declared, "am a miracle worker."

"'Miracle worker'?" Sam repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Al rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, maybe Gooshie and Ziggy had something to do with it. And Odin might have pointed us in the right direction. A little. But when you come right down to it, it was mostly me."

"I thought I'd never see you again…" Sam said, unable to believe it. After everything that had happened, everything that had changed, after Sam had gone completely off the grid…_still_ the man had come for him.

"Have a little faith, would you? Sure, it took a couple of months and we came so close a few times but never quite managed to get here in time but whoever this 'Odin' is he didn't get all Swiss Cheese Brained on us and so was able to help us pinpoint your location," Al explained.

"Do you…I mean, how do you even…" Sam trailed off, uncertain of how to phrase it.

"How do I even what?" Al asked him.

"You're _here_," Sam said, gesturing emphatically.

"I had rather thought that we had gotten past this but, if you insist, yes, Sam, I am here," Al said magnanimously. "I can keep saying it for as long as I have to."

"No, I've got that," Sam assured him, a small grin forming on his face. He had really missed the man. "It's just…I thought…_Beth_." A horrible thought occurred to him. What if it hadn't worked? "Did she not…?"

Al smiled, then, and Sam's fears were dispelled. If she hadn't waited then bringing her up would have brought nothing good. "No, Sam, you did it. I don't know what you did but somehow you got Beth to wait for me."

Sam's eyes widened. "You…_remember_?"

Al looked almost insulted. "Of course I remember! Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, I did completely rewrite the last twenty-some years of your life," Sam pointed out.

Al nodded. "There is that. But I _always_ remember, Sam. I think it's because we're connected. But then, I remember more than you do since you've got that partial amnesia thing going on."

Sam was still staring at Al in awe. "I never would have thought-"

"And yet you did it anyway," Al interrupted. "I get it, you're a saint."

Sam's ears burned. "I'm _really_ not."

Al snorted but said nothing.

"So, I mean, what's happened? With you, with me, with the Project…Does the Project even still exist?" Sam wondered.

"Of course it still exists!" Al exclaimed. "You really think a little thing like constantly mucking up time could stop your obsession with time travel?"

Sam grinned. "Apparently not."

"Things more-or-less played out the same on that front," Al confided. "We did Starbright and then Quantum Leap together. We did meet under better circumstances, though, as I wasn't driven to vengeance by that vending machine."

"How did we meet then?" Sam asked curiously.

"My wife left her headlights on when she got out of the car one day – it was raining so she turned them on and then forgot – and so her battery was dead. She wanted me to come and charge the battery but I didn't have any of the equipment," Al explained. "I was talking to her about it on my way out of the building and you happened to be in the elevator with me and, being a boy scout, had everything I needed in your car. Even though that was the first time we'd spoken aside from when I'd hired you, you still insisted on coming with me and saving the day."

Sam's smile turned wistful. "That sounds like a nice story."

"That's what Beth thought and I'm sure that vending machine agrees," Al told him. "She insisted on having you over to dinner and was so charmed that there was no getting rid of you even if I wanted to!"

"Then it's a good thing you never wanted to," Sam replied.

Al nodded. "Good thing."

Sam hesitated, not sure if he really wanted to know. But he had to find out and this might be his only chance. Hopefully not but it might be. "And what about me? Did I still leap?"

Al caught on immediately. "Do you mean is there some other version of you running around? No, no there's not. You still tested the Project on yourself like an idiot and I'm still left to try and clean up your messes and wonder where I went wrong with you."

"It wasn't like an idiot," Sam protested.

Al looked pointedly at their surroundings.

"It had to be done!" Sam exclaimed.

"How do you know?" Al challenged. "Do you even remember doing it?"

"Well, no," Sam conceded. "But still."

Al just shook his head at that. "So what have we got here?"

Sam frowned. "Don't you _know_?"

"Well, I know that we have a guy named Odin who has no depth perception and who remembers everything just fine. Some of the others you leaped into couldn't tell us the date they were taken from which made finding you harder," Al replied. "Surely you managed to pick up something while you were here."

Sam considered. "I was called Odin, yes. There was a broken rainbow bridge which I think they called the 'Bifrost' and my two sons are called Thor and Loki."

Abruptly, Al sat down and fell straight through the tub he was standing near. "Oh, boy."

"What? What is it?" Sam asked anxiously.

"It could be a coincidence," Al said slowly. "It could just be some rather extreme fans of the mythology but, then again, it could be the real thing."

"What?" Sam repeated, even more urgently.

"None of these names sound familiar to you?" Al asked curiously.

"No!" Sam insisted. "And I have a maybe-wife, too, whose name I don't know. Thor and Loki's mother."

"That would be Frigg," Al told him. "Or was it Frigga? There are a couple of variations."

"Al, what's going on?" Sam asked him.

"I'm pretty sure that Loki isn't actually Odin's son but a giant," Al told him.

"Frigga said that he was an adopted Frost Giant," Sam offered.

Al nodded. "Well, that would explain it. Thor is Odin's son and the god of thunder-"

"Wait, what?" Sam interrupted.

"He's the god of thunder and Odin is the king of the gods," Al explained patiently. "Loki's the god of mischief."

"You're pulling my leg," Sam accused.

"Hey, you're the one talking about rainbow bridges," Al said defensively.

"So I'm supposed to believe that I've taken the place of a _god_," Sam said skeptically. That would put him far older than fifty and his 'children' dozens of times older than him…at _least_.

"More or less," Al said, shrugging. "Of course, they're actually Norse gods so who knows how much of what the Vikings say about them is true? I think there was something about a giant serpent who took up all of the Earth's oceans. Well, they called it _Midgard_."

So Thor had been banished to Earth, then? He was on a little more familiar ground there.

"Do you know what year this is?" Sam asked hopefully.

Al nodded. "2011."

So he was into the future but not _that_ far.

"So what can you tell me about these people?" Sam demanded.

Al frowned, thinking. "Well, I know that Thor and Loki had all kinds of adventures together until Loki did something and got imprisoned forever. Odin was obsessed with the end of the universe, Ragnarok, and stopping it. Um…the Aesir – the people of Asgard – didn't like the giants from Jotunheim and Ragnarok was a battle between the two groups with Loki leading the giants."

"That's it?" Sam asked, disappointed. It was more than he had known before and he didn't even know how much of it was accurate given that those were ancient myths and already he had seen differences, particularly regarding Loki. Still, he would have liked to know more.

"Hey, I'm hardly an expert on ancient Norse mythology, you know," Al said defensively. "It was always too strange for me. That was always more of-" He abruptly cut himself off, wincing.

But something was tugging at Sam's brain, the feeling that he knew what Al was about to say. The feeling that he _should_ know. It was someone he knew. Someone that had an interest in Norse mythology and, were he here, would have been able to help him out more. No, it wasn't a he. That was all wrong. It was…it was…

"Donna," Sam realized. "Donna was the one who loved Norse myths."

Al said nothing.

Sam's brow furrowed and he concentrated harder. Donna, the woman who had left him at the altar the way she had her previous fiancé. Donna, the woman that he had met on one of his earliest leaps when he had brought her father back into her life. What had ever happened with her? Was Al right and she had married the first man she had promised herself to? Had she ever even entered his life? Al seemed to remember her but then, as he himself had pointed out, Al remembered _everything._

Donna. There had to be some reason that Al didn't want to mention her in front of Sam. Was it because they had never met in the new timeline? Was it because she was happily married to someone else? Was she _dead_? Or…maybe…

"Donna," Sam said again. "My…my _wife_."

"Donna," Al agreed. "The Norse myth nut."

Sam closed his eyes as memories assaulted him. Not all of his memories of her, not nearly all. But enough. Enough to understand that he'd been betrayed by the person closest to him.

When it was over, he opened his eyes. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

Al glanced away for a moment before seeming to harden his resolve and looking right into Sam's eyes.

"She told me not to," Al explained.

Sam frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't she want me to know that she married me? Did she…is she…?"

"No!" Al was quick to assure him. "Your wife didn't leave you and she's just as anxious as I am for you to come home."

"Then why doesn't she want me to remember our marriage?" Sam demanded.

Al's gaze turned distant. "You always fall in love so easily, Sam. Alison, Dianne, Abigail…"

Sam closed his eyes as the truth about those encounters became clear to him. He had cheated on Donna. He had cheated on her every other time he turned around it seemed. Oh, sex had very rarely ever been involved (he didn't fall in love _instantly_ and he was never who they thought he was) but kisses had, lots of kisses. And the feelings.

He couldn't deny the truth of Al's words but oh did he want to.

"I wouldn't have if I'd only known!" he cried out, almost desperately.

"I know, I know, Sam," Al was quick to reassure him. "And so does Donna, believe me. That's why she didn't want you to know."

"She didn't want me to remember to be faithful to her?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Sam, Donna understands that sometimes – when the person you leap into is in a relationship with somebody – in order to be believable you're going to have to kiss them. Sometimes, like when you're on your honeymoon or her husband just died so you can finally be together, there really is no avoiding that if you want to save the day," Al told him. "And she knew that you'd react just like you're reacting now. _That's_ why she didn't tell you."

Donna was too good for him, she really was. And how long had it been now since he had had the ability to go home and hadn't? How long had he left her waiting for him? He might never have come back.

"Of course, it took her longer to understand about Sammy Jo but she got there," Al mused. "And it took Sammy Jo awhile to come to terms with all of it, too, so be glad you weren't there for _that_ one." He shuddered.

"Sammy Jo," Sam repeated. That name was familiar. That was the name of one of the people working on the Project, right? That was the name of…"My daughter."

Al winced. "You forgot that, too? _Jesus_, Sam!"

"I didn't do it intentionally!" Sam protested. "She knows about me?"

"She wants to meet you," Al told him. "Abigail died a few years back so I guess that's why she's so eager to meet you. It certainly made her existence easier for Donna to accept."

And to think that Sam hadn't thought that he had been leaving anything behind except an Al that he had delivered back to his true love. Did this make him a terrible person? He rather thought that it did though he knew Al would disagree. Al always had too much faith in him. "How long has it been?"

"Since I last saw you and you were ranting about some bartender being God?" Al asked him. "About a year."

A year? That wasn't bad. Of course, when he added the five additional years he'd been gone that made it six years. It was 2001 and just the same amount of time that Beth had had to wait for Al. And once they'd lost contact, Donna had no reason to think he was even alive or was ever coming back.

"Oh, don't do this, Sam!" Al entreated. "Donna's already going to kill me for letting this slip, never mind what will happen if you bury yourself in guilt."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "How could she possibly find out?"

Al blinked in surprise. "Sam, are you suggesting that I lie to your wife?"

"Why not?" Sam asked, a little bitterly. "She's been lying to me all these years."

"To _protect_ you!" Al pointed out.

"I don't need protection," Sam bit out.

"Oh no?" Al asked rhetorically. "What do you think would have happened if you remembered about Donna after you and Abigail conceived Sammy Jo? I don't recall you having much choice there."

Sam opened his mouth to insist that he would have been fine but then shut it again. It would have been really hard on him. And there was no way that he could have gone through with kissing all those other women. He really hoped that Frigga and Odin weren't the demonstrative types.

"That's what I thought," Al said triumphantly. "But hey, forget about that for now."

"How am I supposed to just forget about it?" Sam demanded.

"You've been in here for ages and last I checked you had two super-powerful gods who just tried to kill each other waiting for you to resolve their problems and possibly avert Ragnarok," Al reminded him.

Sam winced. "Ah, that."

"Not looking forward to it?" Al asked.

"Either of them could kill me without even trying," Sam said, wincing already.

"Yeah but _they_ don't know that so I doubt they'd try," Al told him.

"So what if I resolve everything and one of them hugs me and squeezes too hard and I just pop like a balloon?" Sam asked anxiously.

"I would be sad to see your passing but comforted somewhat by how hilarious your death was," Al answered promptly.

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're no help."

"You want help? Ziggy says that there's an 87.2 percent chance that you're here to resolve Loki's family issues."

Sam groaned. "I am _not_ a therapist."

"Not this leap, maybe," Al agreed.

"I'm supposed to somehow avert _Armageddon. _The end of all things," Sam said, dazed.

"Finally, something epic and large-scale!" Al said, pleased. "Though it hasn't happened yet and hopefully never will."

"I don't know how to do this," Sam said, not moving.

"You'll be fine," Al assured him. "Just make them do all the talking."

"It can't be that easy," Sam said dubiously.

"You might be surprised," Al replied. "According to Donna, gods are notorious drama queens."

Review Please!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Quantum Leap.

When Sam returned to the room he'd left Loki and Thor in, he found the pair pointedly ignoring each other's existence on the other side of the room. Well, at least they weren't trying to kill each other again.

They both looked up when Sam came back into the room so apparently he would need to start this off.

"Don't mind me," Al said as he walked into the room.

"You're still here?" Sam asked, startled. Usually Al didn't stick around after giving him his instructions.

"Of course we're still here, Father," Thor said, frowning. "We were supposed to wait for you."

"I wouldn't miss something like this for the world," Al replied. "Especially since we just found you again."

Sam forced a smile. "Right, well, who wants to tell me what was going on right before I had to catch you from falling off the Bifrost?"

No one said anything.

Sam did a silent 'eenie meenie miney moe' in his head.

"Loki, why don't you go first?" Sam asked.

Loki glanced up at him. "What does it matter? You already know what happened."

Not really, though he probably should.

"I want to hear it from you," Sam said in his best authoritative voice.

"Oh, nice," Al complimented.

"King Laufey and a few of his men somehow found their way to Asgard," Loki told him. "When I discovered this I immediately rushed to your side. They had knocked Mother over and Laufey was talking about how he was going to kill you. I killed him instead."

That was in line with what Frigga had told him.

"I suppose I owe you my life then," Sam said. "Thank you."

Something passed through Loki's eyes, gone too quickly to identify. It seemed that now that Loki had been given some time he had decided to play things close to the vest. In some ways it might have been easier to deal with the more openly vulnerable Loki but he'd needed the time to try and understand more about what was going on and he couldn't have passed up the chance to reunite with Al for the world. Maybe Loki being calmer could be a good thing.

"As your son, it was my duty and privilege," Loki replied evenly. "You were still asleep and, as acting king of Asgard, I knew that I had to act. Jotunheim had already attacked us once by sending people to steal the Casket on the day that was to be Thor's coronation and then they threatened us with war when Thor barged into Jotunheim to 'teach them a lesson.' And then they nearly killed you. This couldn't be allowed to continue and so I…" He steeled himself. "I decided to settle the problem once and for all and destroy Jotunheim."

Al whistled. "Destroy his own people? This kid's got more problems than I thought."

Thor looked like he was about to explode.

Sam nodded his way. "Thor?"

"Although I will admit that at first I did not really…_understand_ about the banishment, once I failed to lift Mjolnir-" Thor began.

"That's his hammer, I think," Al supplied. "Only the worthy can wield it."

"I began to understand. _Loki_ told me that you were dead and that it was all my fault and that Mother never wanted to see me again so I'd have to stay on Midgard forever," Thor said, glaring daggers at Loki.

Loki shrugged. "I may have exaggerated."

"Exaggerated?" Thor thundered. "You outright lied to me!"

"And that certainly wasn't very nice," Sam spoke up. "But you know the truth now. Loki, why did you lie to him?"

"He had been locked up by the humans and seemed entirely directionless," Loki replied promptly. "I was _hoping_ that by telling him what I did I could motivate him to try and make up for what he believed that he had did. I thought this shock would provide the wake-up call that he needed and here he is now, just one day later, appropriately matured."

"You are _such_ a liar!" Thor cried out.

"I don't expect thanks," Loki said with a long-suffering sigh.

"Then what happened, Thor?" Sam asked.

"You can't honestly believe-" Thor started to say.

"It doesn't matter whether I believe or not," Sam cut him off. "What happened next?"

Thor closed his eyes briefly. "I had decided to try and be a better person and to live out a good life on Earth when my friends showed up. They told me the truth about what had happened on Asgard and begged me to return. I would not have done so except that Loki had sent a destroyer after them. No one died but most of the buildings were hit and people could have died."

"Loki?" Sam asked, turning to Loki.

"As their king, I forbade them to go. They left anyway to try and depose me and that's two counts of treason right there," Loki said, unmoved.

"But they're your _friends_," Sam said, confused.

"Not after this they're not," Al predicted.

"They made their choice," Loki said coldly.

"Who are you?" Thor demanded, staring at Loki as if he'd never seen him before.

Loki smiled grimly. "That is the question, isn't it?"

"That it is," Sam agreed. "But we'll get to that. Thor, what happened next?"

"I told Loki to leave them alone and just kill me. The destroyer walked away and for a moment I did not think that he would do it but then he sent me flying through the air. I was badly injured but…" Thor's tone turned grudging. "But that destroyer could have done a lot worse. I doubt that, even had that not proved my worthiness to wield Mjolnir and I regained my powers, I would have died."

"I was never intending to _kill_ you, Thor," Loki told him quietly. "I just needed you to stay put and your treasonous friends were making that difficult."

"_Our_ treasonous friends," Thor corrected.

Loki stared at him. "That's really the part that you want to correct?"

"I returned to Asgard and confronted Loki in your chambers, Father. He blasted me through a wall and told me he was going to destroy Jotunheim. When I got to the Bifrost, he had the controls frozen so that I could not turn them off and the entire realm would have been wiped out. I really had no choice but to destroy the Bifrost," Thor concluded. "Loki leapt to try and stop me but he was too late and we both went flying. That's when you showed up."

Sam was quiet for a long moment, trying to figure out how to even start with this.

"Good luck, Sam," Al told him, sounding vaguely amused.

Well, first thing's first, he supposed. Genocide was just not a good idea and by far the most serious thing that had happened.

"Loki, why were you trying to destroy Jot-the Frost Giants?" Sam asked finally, deciding it was really best to not even try with that pronunciation.

Loki's answer came quick, prepared. He had clearly been anticipating this question. "You know better than anyone the toll defeating Jotunheim in the first war took on Asgard. I was trying to avoid having another war when it did not seem like one could be averted through any other means. Even now, a war may not be averted."

"The king is dead," Sam pointed out.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Yes and that will sow chaos and confusion for awhile, particularly if they do not realize this at first and believe him to be simply missing. But should they find out, should Laufey have told anyone where he was going…Well that might just fan the flames of war even more."

"These were _your_ actions!" Thor exploded, apparently physically incapable of remaining quiet any longer.

"And the must be dealt with," Loki said simply. "Though if you'll remember what started all of this-"

Not wanting to wait for them to finish bickering, Sam interrupted, "But Loki…_genocide_."

Loki's face was somber. "Yes, genocide. It is not something to be undertaken lightly but it seemed like the safest course of action. And the Frost Giants _are_ monsters."

Sam wasn't sure what Odin's feelings, expressed or otherwise, were about Frost Giants but he did know that being told he was a monster would certainly not help matters with Loki and no child needed to be told that they were a monster by their parents. "I don't agree with that."

Loki wouldn't look at him. "So you said."

Thor seemed to pick up on the fact that something deeper was going on than he was aware of. "What…?"

"Do you want to tell him?" Sam asked gently.

"I'm surprised he doesn't already know," Loki responded curtly.

"I'm sensing some serious sibling rivalry here," Al noted.

"This is your secret, Loki," Sam said firmly. "And it's up to you if you want to share it with your brother or not."

Thor was looking more and more curious but he said nothing.

Finally, Loki nodded to himself and stood. "It doesn't make a difference." He closed his eyes and his skinned turned blue.

Sam tried not to look as startled as he felt.

"I'm guessing that's what a Frost Giant looks like," Al noted. "He's not very, well, giant-like but I guess he could be a runt."

Thor was gripping the chair he sat on so hard it was leaving a mark.

"Well, _brother_?" Loki asked condescendingly. When he opened his eyes they were red. "Do you have a better grip of the situation yet?"

Thor shook his head helplessly. "I must confess that I really don't."

"Well I'll tell you," Loki informed him, pleasantly enough. "Apparently I _am_ a prince after all, just one of Jotunheim. I was abandoned to die for being too small and Father took me back with him to try and use me to ensure Jotunheim's good behavior, never mind whether I'd want to go back to that cesspit."

Sam shot Al a look demanding to know how much of that was true.

Al shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't there! From what I've seen of Odin, he probably could take in a baby with the intention of doing that. Whether he could raise him for hundreds of years and never tell him while _still_ planning on doing that is another story, however."

"Loki," Sam said firmly.

Loki turned to look at him. "Did I miss something?"

"You missed a great deal," Sam insisted. "I noticed that you didn't mention the fact that I couldn't just leave a child to die or that my plans have changed. I noticed that you didn't mention that I love you and you're my son."

"Your son, perhaps, but always the lesser, always in the shadows," Loki said darkly.

"_Please_ tell me that he's not trying to claim that being the un-favorite makes it okay to commit genocide," Al requested.

It was so hard to remember not to answer him but, well, the last thing he needed was to convince his 'sons' that he was crazy and so he just shrugged.

"I don't think any parent ever intentionally sets out to have a favorite child or to love one child more than the other," Sam said slowly. He wouldn't know, really, since he only had the one child that he had only met once and not as himself but that seemed right. "If I ever made you feel that way, Loki, then I'm truly sorry. I don't believe that I loved Thor more or favored him over the years but I acknowledge that you may have seen it differently." A thought occurred to him. "And, if you'll recall, Thor _was_ the one to be banished earlier this week and not you."

Loki frowned, seeming to concede the point. He abruptly turned back to Thor who was gaping like a goldfish. "Well? Don't you have anything to say?"

"I don't understand," Thor managed to say.

"Well I've already explained it," Loki snapped.

"Thor," Sam began.

Grateful for the distraction, Thor immediately glanced his way.

"Do you believe that your brother is a monster?" Sam asked bluntly.

"Of course he does," Loki said contemptuously. "And I'll bet he's glad, too, glad that he finally understands why I could never live in your perfect little world."

Thor turned back to Loki. He said nothing for a long while as his eyes roamed over Loki's Frost Giant features. "No," he said finally.

That seemed to puzzle Loki. "No?"

"No, my brother, you are not a monster," Thor said again, his voice growing stronger this time.

"You seemed to hold a different opinion when I was destroying Jotunheim," Loki pointed out.

Thor looked uncomfortable. "Well, as you pointed out, I would have done the same thing not long ago. I changed and you can change, too."

"Oh, isn't that lovely?" Loki asked sarcastically. "I'll be welcomed back if only I _change_!"

"You wouldn't have to change much," Sam pointed out. "Just maybe stop attempting to wipe out entire species."

Thor nodded his agreement. "It's really not hard to avoid, Brother."

"I'm a _Frost Giant_," Loki said frigidly, looking furious and like Thor was being thick on purpose.

Thor shrugged. "Nobody's perfect."

Sam winced. "What he means is that just because you're adopted doesn't mean that we love you any less."

Loki turned around to stare at him. " _A-Adopted_? Really? Is that what you're calling it?"

Sam frowned. "You aren't my or your mother's biological child and yet we took you in and made you a part of our family. That sure sounds like adoption to me."

"You can't just _adopt_ a member of another species," Loki protested.

"Current evidence suggests otherwise," Thor argued.

"It's not adoption if your biological parents don't know about it," Loki insisted. "In fact, it might actually be kidnapping."

"When they left you to die, I think that just about terminated their parental rights," Sam said dryly. "Loki, look, I get that you're upset right now and you have every right to be. Your whole world has been turned upside down and you have to face some truths about yourself that you'd rather not face."

Loki waited for him to finish.

"Still, being upset doesn't give you the right to hurt other people, let alone wipe out entire races," Sam concluded.

"But they're _monsters_," Loki objected.

"They have the right to exist," Sam said firmly. "Why do you think I didn't wipe them out myself?"

"Loki, Father is right," Thor said, going over to stand in front of his brother. "Your heritage may have been hidden from us but ultimately, it changes nothing. You are still my brother and you always will be."

"How can it not change anything?" Loki demanded. "It changes _everything_."

Sam knew the answer to this one. In fact, he'd often annoyed people by pointing this out back before this whole mess had started. In more recent times, needlessly needling people had seemed like a terrible idea as he'd often had _enough_ trouble. "It changes nothing because if you are a Frost Giant now then you have always been a Frost Giant. The only thing that has changed is your perspective."

"The fact that you were born a…" Thor trailed off, taking a deep breath. He was clearly not as comfortable with this as he was pretending to be but he was still determined to put his own feelings aside for the sake of his brother. Thor was not actually his son, of course, but something in him swelled with pride at that. "A Frost Giant might explain why you were never able to keep up when it came to the traditional way of fighting but that's alright."

"'Alright'?" Loki echoed mockingly. "It shows that I don't belong in Asgard on a very fundamental level and you think that that's _alright_?"

"You'll never be the typical Asgardian warrior, true," Thor acknowledged. "But that's okay. We have plenty of those, that's why it's called the 'typical Asgardian warrior.' Instead, we have you. You and your magic. I jest about your tricks and perhaps you take that more seriously than you should but I know for a fact that we would not have made it out Nornheim without you."

Loki looked almost pained. "You don't mean that."

Thor steeled himself and then placed his hand on Loki's neck. Immediately, it started to burn. "I do."

Sam jumped up, not sure what was happening or why or how to stop it.

But he needn't have worried. After a moment, Loki's blue coloring melted away and he looked like the man that Sam had first met.

"No one has to know, do they?"

Sam was startled to realize that Loki was talking to him again. "About what?"

"About…" Loki gestured vaguely to himself. "Everything?"

"They'll have to be told something to explain about the Bifrost," Sam reasoned. "But aside from that…No. We don't have to tell them anything you don't want to, son."

Loki didn't quite smile but there was something like hope in his eyes that had been empty before.

Then the world dissolved around him.

* * *

Sam opened his eyes to see Verbena Beeks standing over him with a professional expression on her face and a clipboard in her arms. He was lying on an examining table in a place that was suddenly very, very familiar.

He closed his eyes and smiled.

"Hello, please try and remain calm," Verbena told him. "You are part of a government experiment and will be returned to your home, unharmed, in just a few short days. We ask that you bear with us until then."

Sam opened his eyes again and sat up, swinging his legs around to the side of the bed.

"If you'll please report your name and year," Verbena requested.

"My name?" Sam asked innocently. "That's Sam Beckett. As for the year…Well, I couldn't tell you for sure but I'm hoping it's still 2001."

Verbena's mask of professionalism dropped in an instant. She dropped the clipboard as her arms shot out towards him before she pulled them back. She ran a finger through her hair. "Dr. Beckett?"

"Is that a yes on it being 2001?" Sam asked hopefully.

Verbena laughed then, more out of relief to see him than because his question had amused her. "Yes, Dr. Beckett, this is still 2001."

"I leaped home…" Sam breathed.

"And about time you did, too," Verbena said, almost giddy in her relief. "It was starting to get a little ridiculous."

Sam laughed himself. "You're telling me. Is Al here?"

Verbena shot him a strange look. "You'd rather see the Admiral and not…?" She trailed off.

"My wife and daughter?" Sam helpfully supplied. "No, I want to see them, too. _Believe_ me, I want to see them, too. It's just…I think I'm on firmer footing with him."

Verbena nodded. "I understand. The Admiral's usually here. Ziggy, if you would?"

"If I would _what_?" Ziggy inquired.

Sam gave her puppy dog eyes. "_Please_, Ziggy."

A moment later, "The Admiral has been informed and he's on his way down here." Sounding miffed, she continued with, "He implied that if I were relaying faulty information then he would take me apart and sell me for scrap metal."

Sam grinned. "Oh, it's okay, Ziggy. You know he doesn't mean it."

"I will remember this," Ziggy threatened.

Sam waited in anticipatory silence while Verbena did some standard tests to make sure that he had come back fine.

Finally, Al came charging in. "Sam?"

"I'm back," Sam confirmed.

Al put a hand on his forehead. "Oh, thank God. I was starting to wonder if we'd get you back in my lifetime. I wonder what changed this time…"

This time he had realized that he had some rather pressing responsibilities back home that he couldn't just continue to ignore? "I don't know."

Al reached out and touched Sam's shoulder, just to prove that he was real. Sam had been about half a minute away from doing the exact same thing to Al.

"Everything appears to be normal," Verbena reported, moving towards the door. "I'll let everyone know that you're alright."

"Don't let everyone crowd him!" Al instructed.

Verbena nodded. "I'll tell them to save it for the party tonight."

Sam groaned. "There's going to be a party tonight? But I just got back!"

"After six years of this, Dr. Beckett, it is going to be the best damn party that any of us has ever seen," Verbena said, a hint of a threat in her voice.

Sam winced. "Oh boy."

Al grinned. "Sounds exciting."

"So what happened?" Sam asked. "Did Thor and Loki work it out?"

Al shrugged. "They must have because you came back."

"You don't _know_?" Sam asked, surprised.

"I'm not psychic, Sam, and this _did_ take place ten years in the future," Al pointed out. "We'll just have to trust that you wouldn't have leapt out of there if Odin couldn't handle whatever came next."

"That reminds me…how, exactly, did you mange to keep Odin here?" Sam wondered. "I mean, he didn't have a Swiss Cheese Brain and he's apparently super-strong."

"He…quickly decided that he wasn't going to just wait quietly in here," Al admitted, wincing a little. "But he was willing to let us explain the situation to him. He wasn't happy, to say the least. He was actually insulted that a stranger – and possibly because you're human – thought that they could deal with his sons better than he could. Still, he was stuck with your aura and ten years in the past. He didn't want two Odins in Asgard at once and even if he waited, the Bifrost in his present was destroyed so the only way he really had of going home was waiting for you to be finished."

Sam whistled. "I am really glad I didn't have to deal with that one."

"No, you just had to prevent Armageddon," Al retorted.

Sam frowned pensively. "Do you think I succeeded?"

"I hope so," Al told him fervently. "But if not…well, apparently even the first steps towards that path don't happen for another ten years so it's really not our problem."

"Al!" Sam cried out, half-scandalized.

"What?" Al asked him innocently. "What more can we possibly do to prevent that?"

Sam sighed, knowing that he was right.

"Beth's dying to see you again," Al said conversationally. "Of course, you've never properly met her, have you? Not since you stopped being Jake."

"I'm sure I'll love her as much as you do," Sam assured him.

Al laughed. "Hopefully not _quite_ as much."

Sam coughed. "Yes, right."

"When Donna gets here, I'd mention the fact that you remembered her before you came home," Al advised. His eyes turned serious. "Listen, Sam...What you did for me...Beth, my girls, they really make up my life. I can't even imagine going back to my old life even though I know that it was only a year ago that I ever had anything different."

"You already thanked me, Al," Sam said softly.

"I just wanted to let you know that I...If it had meant that you never would have come home...I would have wanted you to get your happy ending instead," Al said, not quite able to look at him. "After everything, you deserve it."

"_You_ deserve it," Sam countered.

Al laughed. "Alright, so we both deserve it! I'm glad that we were able to get both in the end."

"It's karma, I think," Sam confided.

There was a scramble at the door as Donna and a member of the Project he had seen in passing (though not in reality, just in his memories) showed up together.

She looked like Abigail.

Poor, dead Abigail who he had barely known and yet who had given him the only child he had. The only child that he _knew_ that he had, at least. And now he would never get the chance to know her. It wasn't as if he ever could have told her the truth, though, not like with Sammy Jo who worked here at Quantum Leap. There was a painful feeling in his chest.

Sam didn't have time to say anything before Donna had launched herself into her arms and kissing him senseless.

He vaguely heard Sammy Jo remark, "I really hope this isn't a case of mistaken identities."

"No, it's Sam," Al assured her. "And present-day Sam, too."

Sammy Jo giggled. "Can you imagine if he was sixteen again? Or even pre-Donna?"

Donna pulled back. "_I_ would know my husband anywhere."

"Really?" Al asked challengingly.

Donna turned back to Sam, her arms still around his neck. "Did you or did you not leap into a college professor and take me to see my father after he walked out on the family?"

Sam's eyes widened. "I-I did," he admitted, surprised.

"You always did remind me of him, at least during those days," Donna said dreamily. "I had thought he was a pig before and he proved himself a pig afterwards but…I never understood until you went leaping."

"You were never _th-_" Al started to say.

"Al!" Sam cut him off.

"What?" Al asked innocently.

Sam turned to look at his beautiful daughter. "You look just like your mother."

Sammy Jo smiled wryly at him. "I might as well since I inherited so much from you."

"She's taken to calling Ziggy her big sister since she found out," Donna informed him. "Despite the fact that Ziggy was created well after the 1960s."

"That is true," Sammy Jo acknowledged. "But since Dr. Beckett here is my father and he was, what, thirteen when I was conceived and my mother never knew, I must have been conceived after Dr. Beckett started leaping. Ziggy was built before he started leaping. Therefore, Ziggy's older."

"The timeline was _changed_ after Ziggy was built, yes," Al agreed. The three of them sounded like they had had this argument many times before. Sam wondered what other stupid little everyday details he had missed. "But ultimately, in our present timeline you are years older than Ziggy."

"Ziggy remembers the other timelines," Sammy Jo pointed out. "Did the person talking about the budget _really_ change in the middle of a sentence?"

Al nodded gravely. "Good thing, too, because he was about to cut us off."

"Project Quantum Leap has always been well-funded," Donna protested.

Al rolled his eyes. "Yeah, _this_ timeline."

"I swear," Donna said, shaking her head. "I never know if I should take you seriously or not."

"That is a common problem," Sam remarked.

"_I_ think that it is obvious when I'm being serious or not," Al announced.

Sam laughed. "Well, hopefully _you_ would."

Sammy Jo was staring hungrily at him.

"What?" Sam asked, self-consciously.

She just smiled at him. "Oh, nothing. I just can't believe that you're back, Dr. Beckett."

Sam winced. "Do you have to call me that? I am your father, after all."

"This is the first actual conversation we've ever had," Sammy Jo pointed out. "I think it's a bit early for that."

"We've spoken before!" Sam protested. Not often but he'd been there when they'd hired her and occasionally spoke to her in the hall.

"Ah, but did we?" Sammy Jo asked, raising an eyebrow. "I remember it happening and maybe you do, too. Still, since I _didn't even exist_ until after you were gone, technically it never happened."

"I think you're missing the point of alternate timelines," Al said, sounding a little annoyed. Sam knew why, too. He wasn't going to appreciate an implication that his life with Beth had never happened. Sam wondered if anybody besides him and Ziggy knew about what had originally happened. Probably not. Al did have his pride, after all, and Beth would be devastated to know that she gave up on him too soon.

Sammy Jo crossed her arms. "You interpret alternate timelines your way and I'll interpret them my way."

Donna distracted him by kissing him again.

He looked questioningly up at her.

"Oh, no particular reason," she said, answering his unspoken question. "Just that I've only gotten a chance to do that once in the last six years. I can't even begin to imagine how long it will be before I feel that we've adequately made up for you being gone for so long."

Sam could feel a goofy grin forming on his face. "I think I can live with that."

Donna playfully rolled her eyes. "Hardly a surprise, _Dr. Beckett_. It is an experiment, after all."

"Experiments have more than one trial," Sam pointed out.

Donna's smile widened. "Oh, I'm well aware. And the more trials the better."

"Thank you," Sam said abruptly.

Donna looked confused. "For what?"

"You're still here," Sam replied.

Donna's confusion didn't abate. "It's only 1:30. We didn't clock out that early the day before our wedding."

"No, I mean…for still being _here_. With me," Sam amended. "Thank you. I wasn't sure…I wanted to be, don't get me wrong, but it is a lot to ask. You didn't even know if I'd ever make it home."

Donna took his hand in hers and placed it over her heart. "I knew."

"Six years, Donna, and I didn't even remember you for most of it," Sam continued, unable to meet her eyes. He might never have returned if he hadn't remembered. "All those women…and Sammy Jo!"

"Sam, don't you dare apologize to me for that brilliant young woman!" Donna exclaimed.

"That's not exactly the reaction I was expecting," Sam admitted. "Though I wasn't _apologizing_, exactly. I just…"

"I know," Donna said simply. "And Sammy Jo and I bonded after she figured out who she was."

"How did she figure it out?" Sam wondered.

Donna shrugged. "I don't know how she first got suspicious, maybe it was because of her total recall ability and status as once-in-a-generation mind and your matching accomplishments. What I do know is that one day she just asked Ziggy if she was her big sister. Ziggy said yes."

"Oh, boy," Sam said, removing his hand from Donna's so he could run it through his hair.

"Be glad you weren't there that day," Donna advised.

"Oh, believe me, I am," Sam assured her. He looked at her again with something like awe. "Six years, Donna."

"Well," Donna said slyly, glancing at Al. "Some people were very supportive."

"Oh, they were, were they?" Sam asked, also looking Al's way.

Donna nodded anyway. "Whenever he thought I was feeling the pressure he came over and provided some, uh, friendly encouragement."

"What kind of 'friendly encouragement'?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"Uh-uh, Donna, remember we signed a non-disclosure agreement!" Al exclaimed, tuning back into their conversation.

"I know, I know," Donna assured him, raising her hands in a placating gesture.

"Do I even want to know?" Sam asked rhetorically.

"No, you really don't," Sammy Jo assured him.

Sam threw his hands in the air. "So even you know!"

"I was a witness," Sammy Jo explained. "All good contracts have witnesses."

"Whether the law requires them to or not," Al muttered.

Sam had already been feeling content but a great wave of bliss came over him just then as it hit him, really hit him, that he'd come home and would be staying there. Better be staying there.

"Oh, I missed you all so much!" Sam exclaimed suddenly.

"Me?" Al asked. "You saw me every day you were in a leap."

"Me?" Donna asked. "You didn't even remember me."

"Me?" Sammy Jo asked. "As far as I can tell, we only met briefly when I was eleven."

"All of you," Sam insisted fondly.

"That's real good, Sam," Al said, exchanging a glance with the others, "because after just what we all went through fixing things after that little stunt of yours, we are never letting you out of our sight again."

"_Ever_," Sammy Jo added emphatically.

"Though maybe just one of us will be fine if need be," Donna said meaningfully.

Al sighed in mock-disappointment. "As you wish."

"Careful," Donna cautioned with a teasing grin, "Beth will get jealous if she hears that you've been saying that to other girls."

"Ah, but see, there's 'As you wish' and then there's '_As you wish_'," Al explained.

"Can anybody explain to me what's going on?" Sam asked.

"Princess Bride," Sammy Jo explained. "And that came out in 1987 so you really have no excuse."

"My excuse is that it's called 'Princess Bride'," Sam countered.

"Give me a week," Al declared.

Donna laughed. "Give me _two days_."

"That's not fair," Al protested. "You have certain advantages to help your cause that I don't."

"All's fair," Donna replied.

"So it sounds like I've got one to three stalkers from now on," Sam said, shaking his head in amusement. "I can live with that."

"For now, maybe," Sammy Jo agreed. "Give us time."

"Oh, is that a challenge?" Al asked eagerly. "Count me in."

"And me," Donna quickly added.

Sam's face was beginning to hurt from all the smiling he was doing and he didn't think that he'd ever been this happy. And if these three never wanted to leave his side again, well there were worse fates. Many, many worse fates – some he had even helped avert over the years.

"Challenge accepted."

It's the End so Review Please!


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